In defense of the schooner Virginia

November 06, 2010

A ship that is dead in the water is an easy target. The Daily Press editorial of Oct. 27 ("Your hole in the water") seized upon recent news coverage of the schooner Virginia to decry the public funding used for her construction and initial operation.

Hindsight is acute, and in the current climate the temptation to criticize public spending for all but bare necessities is apparently irresistible. Taking cheap shots at a demonstrable public asset, however, is misguided.

The schooner Virginia was conceived as a tribute to the region's history and potential and to function as a traveling representative.

Virginia's elected officials at every level supported the project wholeheartedly. The news media, including the Daily Press, provided extensive and uncritical coverage.

The ship was launched in 2005 with a two-part mission, ambassador vessel and educational platform. The editorial is critical of each without being well informed about either.

As ambassador, the ship has been viewed and visited by hundreds of thousands at tall ships festivals around the Atlantic Basin. She has appeared regularly in prominent publications, including numerous front page or cover stories.

The schooner Virginia has been a prominent participant in the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, organized annually to support the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's efforts to protect and support the waterway.

A common metric used to gauge the economic impact of advertising places the value of her appearances at approximately $1.5 million per year.

The ship has provided a challenging learning environment for hundreds of teenagers of all demographics, drawn from the region and beyond.

"Sail training" is a generic term applied to experiential learning aboard traditional ships, and while learning the mechanics of sail is part of the practice, the ship is the medium and not the message. Students on a traditional sailing vessel learn much more than how to "trim sail." They are assigned real work with real responsibilities as shipmates engaged in a common purpose. The participants and their parents will attest to just how positive an impact the experience has had on their lives.

In addition to crewing responsibility, students were instructed in maritime history, Chesapeake Bay ecology and the literature of the sea. Students in the adult program were given instruction in celestial navigation and passage making, professional instruction valuable to safety and success in their individual pursuits on the water.

There was even one notable occasion when the two missions were combined. During the Halifax Tall Ships Festival of last year, the adolescent crew were trained as docents for the thousands of visitors that toured the ship. Each was able to demonstrate pride of accomplishment in an exercise possibly unique among sail training ships.

Why, then, is the ship tied up alongside the dock at Nauticus?

Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation has been pursuing private funding. The last of the state funding allocated to the ship ended in 2008. During the transition, however, the failing economy erased much of the group's traditional donor base, and private efforts fell short of the revenue required to keep the ship going into 2010.

In the 10 months the ship has been idle, concerted efforts have been made by the foundation's board of directors to address any administrative failings that have contributed to the hiatus. Determined board members and former staff have been watching over Virginia in fair weather and foul. The constituency identified in the editorial is being recruited to support future operations.

The foundation has been assisted by a corps of dedicated volunteers who have shown unflagging support of the vision with which the ship was originally launched.

Since 2002, there have been 56 stories in the Daily Press which have featured the schooner Virginia either wholly or in part. Many of these stories were front page — including a dramatic marriage proposal during the Jamestown 400th celebration, and the report of Virginia's record-breaking run down the bay in the 2007 Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. In these 56 articles, there is not a word of criticism of the validity of the project or of the use of public funding for what is portrayed as a vital asset.

It's a shame the Daily Press has chosen to change tacks and become critic of this fine vessel after the paper has provided so much coverage of the ship's positive attributes